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Good Eats – Texas Style, Part II

Posted on June 24th, 2009 by Retired-Ed in Dining

In an earlier post, I told of my visit to the County Line BBQ restaurant. In that post, I promised to also write about the Salt Lick BBQ in Driftwood, TX, about 20 miles from Austin. Salt Lick seems to have legendary status among barbecue aficianados, as witnessed by the plethora of out-of-state license plates in the parking lot. I made my second visit to this rustic location last week.

This place is definitely out in the sticks, and they want you to know that they appreciate the time and gasoline that it takes to reach their restaurant. One of the servers was wearing a T-shirt that said it all (not pictured…the photo in the post is of another T-shirt that spells out the purpose of the place). This restaurant is BYOB if you want to drink alcohol. You are invited to bring your own beer or wine, but warned that it is not permitted to bring your own soft drinks or iced tea. By the way, this is Texas, not the deep south. They have heard of unsweetened tea here, and this diabetic appreciates their consideration.

The menu is what you would expect from a top-notch barbecue restaurant. The family-style option would be overkill in my estimation. I ordered the combination plate, and I had plenty to eat. I really did not need an all-you-can-eat serving. As you can see in the picture on the right, the serving could easily be known as “heart attack on a plate”, but believe me, it is oh so good. The combination plate includes pork ribs, sausage, and beef, served with potato salad and baked beans. You also get homemade bread, pickles, and sliced raw onions. To me, the onions made the meal. I would determine the culinary experience to be outstanding. By the way, the BBQ sauce is also served on the side so that the diner can determine how much sauce should be used.

The establishment is in a very rustic location with a large parking lot. It is easy to miss, however, and the sign marking the location is very unobtrusive. I was not the only person to drive right past and have to turn around and come back. The scenery is very “Texan” and one can see for miles it seems. The picture on the left is of a small pond near the entrance.  As I said, the location is very rustic, and it is popular with both locals and tourists. I got a heads-up about the place from a friend in Germany. I don’t know how other people learn about it, but a quick walk-through of the parking lot at 2:00 on a weekday afternoon showed cars from as far away as Oregon, Arizona, Kansas, and Florida. On a previous trip there, I spotted a car from Alaska, but I chalked that up to being either a military member or a UT Longhorn student, but I could be wrong.

As I left the premises, I saw two guys in casual clothes wearing a gun on their hip and a badge attached to their belts. I’m not certain about this,but I believe that I spotted some real-life Texas Rangers, and I don’t mean baseball players. Shown at right is a picture of the interior, and below is a picture of some of the accolades garnered by Salt Lick.

Getting there is a bit of a trick, but the website gives good directions. The easiest way, should you find yourself in Central Texas, is to take I-35 to Slaughter and then take Slaughter west until it dead-ends into FM 1826. Take a left and drive about 10 miles (you’ll see a Hindu temple on your left as you drive along). The Salt Lick will be on your right, but pay attention, as it is very easy to drive right by the place. As the guy’s T-shirt said, it’s worth every mile.

Retired-Ed

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My New Favorite Hangout

Posted on June 12th, 2009 by Retired-Ed in Dining

When my daughter was first injured in February, I arrived in Austin to help her about a week after she fell. She was still in the hospital, where she remained for eleven days. After that, she was in a nursing home for three weeks to receive physical therapy. After being released from the nursing home, she wasn’t able to walk or climb stairs, so living in her own apartment had to be delayed. We found a motel with handicapped-accessible rooms where she could live, and she moved in around the middle of March. At that time, I noted that there were at least four restaurants within walking (or wheeling) distance. One of them was very close, and I was delighted to learn that it was a Tex-Mex restaurant with an extensive happy hour every day. I quickly became a regular at Pappasito’s. What a great place! There’s nothing quite like an ice-cold beer in a frosted mug to make one feel better after surviving the hot Texas mid-day sun.

During their happy hours, Pappasito’s features several different beers at a discounted price along with special deals on a half-dozen or more “starters”. My favorites have been the fried zucchini sticks and the stuffed pooppers. Both are quite tasty. It’s a large restaurant with a long bar which features several television sets tuned to various sports channels. Thankfully, the sound is turned down or there would be quite a cacophony of conflicting announcers.

When you sit down, your cheerful bartender takes your order and also presents you with complimentary chips and salsa which are refilled as needed.  The bartenders are really great. I have made friends with Andrew, Bobby, Michael and Richard. The girls that I have met are Amber, Kirsten, and Melissa. They are all super people. Charming, efficient, intelligent, and all around nice-looking young men and women. It’s really a pleasure to be served by them. A couple of them have told me that they are planning to go back to school, and that will be a loss for the establishment.

In addition to the great service at the bar, the food is outstanding. Check out the menu here. I certainly have not sampled every menu item, but what I have tried has been excellent. The servers in the dining room are very professional and helpful. On Wednesday evening, you can enjoy half-priced fajitas for two. My daughter and I did that on Wednesday and I had enough to eat and take home that I also had enough for lunch on Thursday. Our server was most helpful. Thanks, Chris.

This is a chain operation, owned by the Pappas brothers, and they are not limited to Austin. Indeed, you’ll find them at many locations Texas and one in Georgia. And that’s not all; the company has several other brands, including Pappadeaux, a seafood restaurant, which is next-door to Pappasito’s in Austin. I’ve been wanting to try it out since I have been here, but it’s constantly crowded. It must be good. I’ll try to take my wife, the Queen, there when she visits in July.

As I indicated in the title, this is a favorite hangout for me, and I will miss it when I leave Austin in the next couple of weeks. I’ll return with the Queen for a short visit, but somehow I don’t envision her enjoying it as much as I do. If you stop by in the next couple of weeks, I’ll be the old guy at the bar in the afternoons enjoying my self-imposed limit of two really cold beers.

Retired-Ed

5 Comments

Thanks, but I’ll pass

Posted on June 11th, 2009 by Retired-Ed in Dining

When my family and I were stationed in northern Germany, we were living in the former “British sector” of the once-divided country. Consequently, we had many British military bases within easy driving distance. The British soldiers would flock to our PX on the weekends and would stock up on typically American items. One big hit was the barbecue grill. Once I saw a guy leaving with two, one on each shoulder. I asked him what the big attraction was (we are separated, you know, by a common language). His reply? “Do you have any idea how much these things cost in the UK?” Touche!

Of course, we did things in reverse. We would go to the British NAAFI (their version of the PX) and buy typically British items. My wife and I would go to Fallingbostel and buy what we wanted. We’d stock up on jams (“jellies” are something entirely different than what Americans know), what we would call “crackers”, and “crisps” (American version: potato chips). On occasion, I would go to Rheindahlen, the headquarters of the British Forces in western Germany, and located within the area of my American School District, and make even more purchases.

We really liked the “crisps” and always stocked up on them and also shortbread cookies, frequently known as “biscuits” to the Brits. Well, now I am beginning to wonder about things. One of the big companies that market crisps is Walker. You’ll find Walker’s crisps all over the place. The company has recently come out with a new flavor: Cajun Squirrel. I kid you not. What the hell were they thinking? Is it possible that the British palate is in love with cajun-flavored squirrel? Is squirrel even popular in merrie olde England?

Now I am reminded of our travels around the world. We’ve been to a lot of places. In almost any big city, and quite a few villages in Europe, you can find German restaurants, Italian restaurants, Mexican restaurants, Greek restaurants, French restaurants, even Brazilian restaurants, but I don’t recall ever seeing one that advertised itself as an English restaurant. Don’t get me wrong, there is really good English food. Try going to a British pub and you’ll eat well. There’s a restaurant in London (only one?) that serves traditional “English” food, and it’s great. It’s called Porter’s, and it’s on Henrietta Street, if you find yourself in London. You can get shepherd’s pie, beef and kidney pie, baked cod, and a host of other really good food.

But cajun squirrel? Walker’s, thanks, but I think I’ll pass.

Retired-Ed

8 Comments

Yeech!!!!

Posted on June 6th, 2009 by Retired-Ed in Dining

Let me be clear right up front. I like eating at Denny’s. (“Did he say Lenny’s?”  ”No, Grandma, he said Denny’s”) Sorry, inside joke for my younger daughter to enjoy. But I digress. Whenever we come to the States for a visit, I like to eat a few breakfasts at Denny’s. In fact, when I returned last February to assist the aforementioned daughter, my first morning in country featured a breakfast at Denny’s. I’m a traditionalist at heart, and I’ve always enjoyed the Grand Slam Breakfast. For the past few years, they have had the “Build Your Own Slam” menu item. You can pick any four items for a set price. I usually order two eggs (over easy), link sausage, a biscuit, and grits. Gotta have those grits. And I was neither born nor raised in the South. I think it’s genetic. I can trace my family on my father’s side back to South Carolina in 1700s. That must be it.

So I was dining at Denny’s one day last week for a breakfast meal. I thought I would go for a little variety. Big mistake! I noticed a menu item of breakfast burritos. Now I’m familiar with the concept, and you can get breakfast burritos in many locations, especially here in Texas. While perusing their options, I saw something that caught my eye: The Grand Slam Breakfast Burrito. The menu said that you could enjoy your favorites from the grand slam menu along with the breakfast burrito. All Right! Let’s give this puppy a try. It should have tipped me off when the server said that I was the first one to order that item from her and to let her know what it was like.

So I tried it. (Remember those old Alka-Seltzer commercials: “So I tried it….Thought I was gonna die”)? Well, this wasn’t quite that bad, but I wonder what genius thought that it would be a good idea to wrap a tortilla around a pancake (yes, a pancake!), scrambled eggs, and some meat (either bacon or sausage…I can’t remember).  Lordy, it was awful. I tried pouring hot sauce on it to make it more edible, but it was to no avail. That meal was almost inedible. I did choke down a few bites before giving up. I told my server that it was an idea whose time has not yet come.

Will I go back to Denny’s? Oh sure. I like eating there. Will I get the Grand Slam Breakfast Burrito? Not on your life. You’ll find me eating the Build Your Own Slam and enjoying it.

And congratulations to my nephew John who graduated from high school today, almost three years after a horrific car accident left him in a coma for weeks and hospitalized for months. Way to go, John!

Retired-Ed

3 Comments

Good Eats – Texas Style

Posted on June 4th, 2009 by Retired-Ed in Dining

When I arrived in the Lone Star State back in February, I was blown away by the variety of restaurants in the Austin area. Of course, I expected Mexican and Tex-Mex food, and I found it. I was very surprised though at the number of Asian restaurants and Asian food markets. Having spent 16 years in the Far East, including Okinawa, mainland Japan, and Korea, I have developed a taste for Far Eastern cuisine. There are so many opportunities here; it’s hard to choose.

However, this post is not about Asian food, as good as it may be. I expected also to find barbecue or Bar-B-Q if that’s how you spell it. A colleague who spent 15 years on Austin (ten of them, he says, as a UT undergraduate!) emailed me and recommended that I go the Salt Lick restaurant which is in Driftwood, not far from Austin. I did, and it was excellent, and it deserves its own post, which I will produce on another day. People also told me of another popular barbecue restaurant called County Line. I went there the other day, and it is also outstanding. Be sure to look at their website (all rib lovers will LOVE the video). I went to the location called Austin on the Lake. Getting there involved driving past some beautiful scenery, although I should note that many “lakes” in this area are wide spots in the river created by a dam, but it’s still gorgeous nevertheless.

The entryway gives one the idea of what will be experienced inside: some good, down home barbecue. I regret not taking  pictures of the interior, because it is very quaint. However, it was rather dark inside, and I abhor people taking flash pictures while I am eating so I didn’t subject others to that distraction.

The menu is extensive if a bit on the pricy side. Trust me, it is worth every penny. I ordered a special item that was not on the regular menu. I had a half-rack of St. Louis-style ribs with a Memphis rub. It came with an ample supply of baked beans, cole slaw and potato salad. To wash that down, I ordered a pint of the local brew called Shiner. Everything was very tasty and the cold beer hit the spot on a hot day in Austin.

The menu notes that lighter portions are available for lunch. The half-rack that I ordered was quite sufficient to satisfy my hunger, but the whole rack was certainly enticing. The sauce, by the way, comes on the side. I was provided two small bowls, one of “regular” and one of “spicy”. I used the spicy until it was gone and then switched to the regular. Both were delicious with the meat.

This is a place where I will definitely take the Queen when she visits here next month. If you are ever in the Austin area, the County Line is a must-see and must-visit location.

Retired-Ed

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